Dodgers beat Padres to take a one-game lead over Giants in NL West

The Dodgers' Yasiel Puig, right, is ejected by home plate umpire David Rackley after being called out on strikes in the third inning Saturday. (Keith Birmingham / Staff Photographer)

Andre Ethier was back in center field, Carl Crawford might be on deck to relieve him at some point, Miguel Rojas was playing shortstop, and reliever Paul Maholm was the starting pitcher.

And that was before right fielder Yasiel Puig got thrown out of Saturday’s game against the San Diego Padres for arguing with home plate umpire David Rackley after striking out looking on three straight pitches to end the third inning.

Just like the Dodgers drew it up in spring training, right?

Well, not exactly.

But hey, with the All-Star break beckoning and first place and the best record in the National League in hand, whatever the Dodgers are doing manning some key positions seems to be working.

Saturday was a prime example — albeit just barely while scratching out a 1-0 win over the Padres when A.J. Ellis ripped a line drive out to right field to score Adrian Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth.

Gonzalez got it started by legging out a lead-off double to center field, and after Ethier and Juan Uribe reached on back-to-back walks to load the bases, Ellis drove a deep liner to right to win the game.

Coupled with the San Francisco Giants’ loss earlier in the day, the Dodgers lead the National League West by one game.

“It was a great win for us,” said Gonzalez. “It guarantees we’ll go into the break in first place.”

Puig declined to talk afterward, but he got an earful from his teammates — specifically Hanley Ramirez, Uribe and Gonzalez, who weren’t shy about blasting Puig in front of reporters in Spanish.

It seemed good natured and Puig laughed for the most part, although he had a few loud retorts before leaving.

“(Rackley) was trying to give him a chance, because (Puig) kind of stood there twice with his hands on his hips and usually guys don’t put up with that too much. He was trying to walk away, and actually was walking away, and then (Puig) threw the magic words out there and that was it.”

The question is can the Dodgers keep mixing and matching their way to a division crown or wild-card berth and a prolonged postseason run?

“As we sit here today, we’re right in the race and we’ve been doing it all year, so I don’t know why we can’t keep doing it.” Mattingly said.

Plenty depends on a clean bill of health for Ramirez, although his play at shortstop has been waning for some time. And that was before the flurry of injuries he’s dealt with.

As for center field, Matt Kemp quickly showed he wasn’t capable of providing sufficient defense and Ethier and back-up Scott Van Slyke are not fleet-footed defenders.

That’s one of the reason Crawford’s began taking fly balls in center field after Kemp’s switch to left field put Crawford on the bench.

But then, Crawford’s left arm is a veteran of Tommy John surgery so the thought of him making throws from deep center field probably has opposing base runners smiling broadly as they sharpen their spikes.

Point is, with runs at a premium — especially later in the year — can the Dodgers afford such vulnerability?

Mattingly says the standings are proof they can work around whatever weaknesses they may have.

“It means we have to be smart. We have to move counts and things like that,” Mattingly said. “But I think we’re capable of doing that.”

As long as Puig can stay in the game, of course.

Puig wasn’t happy after striking out looking on three straight pitches from Padres starter Ian Kennedy to end the third and he stood defiantly in the batter’s box.

Rackley gave Puig a second or two to settle down — and leave — but when Puig remained in the box jawing, Rackley finally turned and tossed him out of the game.

“There’s certain things you just can’t do.” Mattingly said. “That was one of those.”

Thanks in part to Maholm, who was making his first start since May 14 and responded with six scoreless innings, it didn’t matter,

“I never had two months off between starts,” Maholm said. “I just wanted to be aggressive and make pitches and go hitter to hitter and not really, honestly, have any expectations coming in.”

Meanwhile, the Dodgers are in position to end the first half with the best record in the league.